Inside the Minnesota Twins with beat writer Kelly Thesier of MLB.com

Results tagged ‘ Brian Duensing ’

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins addressed their struggling rotation on Wednesday, moving Nick Blackburn to the bullpen temporarily and shifting left-hander Brian Duensing into Blackburn’s spot in the rotation.

Twins acting manager Scott Ullger announced the move
before Wednesday’s afternoon game against the Indians. Manager Ron Gardenhire was
tending to a family matter and was not at Target Field.

The move is considered temporary and will allow the Twins to give
Blackburn a mental break. Duensing, who has a 1.67 ERA in 43 relief innings, will start Friday in Baltimore against the Orioles.

Blackburn is not the only starter to be struggling of late, but his troubles have perhaps been the most pronounced. After going 6-1 with a 4.28 ERA through the first two months of the season, Blackburn has been unable to produce similar results. In his last nine starts, Blackburn is 1-6 with a 9.88 ERA and 11 home runs allowed. Opposing teams are hitting .378 over that stretch with a .426 on-base percentage.

The Twins are expecting a crowd of around 50,000 for the first of the three final contests at the Metrodome. With the Twins still in a pennant chase and needing a win tonight, it should make for a great environment at the ballpark.

As for news, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Brian Duensing is available out of the bullpen
tonight if needed. If Duensing does pitch, Carl Pavano would probably start
on Sunday.

Justin Morneau was not in the lineup on Tuesday due to the lingering effects of an inner ear infection and he’s officially considered to be day-to-day.

Morneau left Monday night’s contest against the Rangers after the third inning due to dizziness. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Morneau was put on medication for an inner ear infection before the team left Minnesota. He saw the Rangers doctor before the game who concurred with the original diagnosis and Morneau is scheduled to be re-evaluated on Wednesday.

Philip Humber has arrived in Texas and is available out of the bullpen tonight. The right-hander was supposed to start for Rochester today so he’ll be the long relief option if the Twins need one.

Gardenhire said that Thursday’s starter Anthony Swarzak will also be in the ‘pen tonight. Today was Swarzak’s day to throw a side session before his start, but the team will wait and see if they need him as well. If everything goes smoothly, Swarzak will throw his side session during the game in the bullpen.

Also, Brian Duensing is tenatively penciled in to start Saturday in Kansas City. The Twins hope to use the left-hander in that start but will see how the next couple of games go. After all, things have been a bit screwy with the pitching staff of late. Like yesterday when the plan had been to start Duensing against the Rangers on Thursday, but that changed when Francisco Liriano went on the DL with a tired left arm.

After a week off, I’m back on the beat and it’s a busy day to return thanks to today being the deadline for teams to sign their 2009 Draft picks.

The Twins continue to have negotiations with their first-round pick, right-hander Kyle Gibson. Scouting director Deron Johnson has remained optimistic that a deal will get done, although indications today were that it would likely go down to the wire with the deadline coming at 11:01 p.m. CT.

Brian Duensing will start Thursday’s contest in Texas, manager Ron Gardenhire said today. That means Anthony Swarzak is moving to the bullpen, although he likely won’t be available to pitch in relief until Tuesday after throwing 80-some pitches in his start against Cleveland on Saturday.

Joe Nathan said his right knee is fine after he took a line drive off his kneecap in Sunday’s contest. So the Twins All-Star closer is good to go out of the ‘pen tonight.

Orlando Cabrera is getting a day off today. Gardenhire said that Cabrera told some of the coaching staff that he was a little worn out so they felt this was a good game to give him a rest. Brendan Harris gets the start at shortstop in Cabrera’s place and will be batting second in the lineup as well.

The Twins announced today that they are recalling left-hander Brian Duensing from Triple-A Rochester and to make room on the roster for him, they have outrighted left-hander Sean Henn to Rochester.

Duensing, 26, was on the Opening Day roster for the Twins but he made only one appearance — allowing two runs on two hits in Chicago– before being sent back to Rochester on April 13. Duensing was 4-6 with a 4.66 ERA in 13 starts at Rochester.

Henn made a strong early impression with the Twins, but posted a 7.15 ERA in 14 appearances for Minnesota.

Duensing will be in uniform for the Twins for Friday night’s series opener against the Tigers at the Metrodome.

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